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This quote was posted on Facebook by Stuart Richardson, a person I shared a class with. It is truly thought-provoking and fits with Good Friday, so here it is:

Many Christians believe in the existence of Hell, but most do not share a single concept of it. Some Christians believe that Hell is only for non-Christians; others have decided that it is only for “truly evil” people.

This leads me to my question: Is Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, in Hell?

First, we can affirm that Judas was a man and, therefore, was no greater than any other human.

Virtually all Christians accept that God is All-Knowing. Similarly, all Christians accept that God sent Jesus to die for the sins of humanity. In order for Jesus to die, someone had to betray him and someone had to execute him. If we acknowledge that God is All-Knowing, then he would have know who would betray and who would execute Jesus prior to that person being born. Thus, by allowing that person to be born, God understood that one day that person would become a betrayer or murderer, and as an unrepentant sinner, this person would one day die without the forgiveness of God. This leads us to a fundamental dilemma.

If we accept that Judas was deserving of Hell, then God essentially made a human who sole purpose was to be a sinner. The argument can be raised that Judas chose to betray Jesus on his own accord; however, it still remains that some had to betray Jesus at some point–someone had to sin. This means that God specifically created a human to be a sinner. This means that the distinction between sinner and saint is completely arbitrary and subject to God’s whim, which presents a theological impasse. There is absolutely nothing that a human can do to change his standing with God.

On the other hand, we can accept that Judas did not go to Hell. In most Christian circles, Judas is the prototypical “sinner.” So, if he didn’t go to Hell, then no one can go to Hell.

Since I believe that all life has meaning–which is given by God–then I cannot accept the former because it depicts a life that is void of meaning. The latter, however, depicts a life that overflowing with meaning. Therefore, it stands to reason that Hell cannot exist.